Refrigerator.



PATENTED SEPT. 1s, 1904.

A. WOODWARD. RBFRIGERATOR. APPLICATION FILED MAR-11, 1904.

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PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1'904.

A. WOODWARD.

REPRIGERATOR.

ABPLIOATION FILED MAR. 11, 1904.

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UNITED STATES Patented September 13, 1904.

PATENT OEETCE.

REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 769,882, dated September 13, 1904.

Application filed March 11, 1904.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALFRED WOODWARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at National Soldiers Home, in the county of Elizabeth Oity and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

To provide for cleanliness and "for exposing every part to the purifying effect of the sun and air and for economy of construction, I have produced a refrigerator in which all its parts are adapted for being lifted one out of the other and easily assembled by setting one within the other in the complete structure.

The provision-chamber as a separate structure is provided with external, vertical, and bottom walls of sheet-felt, and when seated within the inclosing case these vertical felt walls are surrounded by a body of air, which keeps them dry.

A separable non-hinged top carries a pair of ice-tanks, and these are separable from the top, each part, the tanks and the top, being -freely seated and lifted from the other.

In the claims appended hereto I will point out the features wherein my invention resides.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents in vertical longitudinal section a refrigerator embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same. Fig. 3 shows in vertical longitudinal section the cover, the felt-walled provisionchamber, and the inclosing case separated from each other to illustrate how they can be lifted one from the other and assembled one within the other in the complete refrigerator. Fig. 4 shows the air-seal for the drip-tubes of the ice-chambers.

Three parts, each complete in itself and separable one from the other, constitute when assembled the refrigerator, and such separable Serial No. 197,644. (No model.)

ing, and cleaning each of the separable parts and preventing a foul condition of the provision-chamber.

The inclosing case 1 has no fixed cover part, and within it is freely seated the part 2, which forms the provision-chamber. The seating of the latter is by a bottom of felt in sheet form 3, secured to the provision-chamber and which rests upon the bottom of the inclosing case. he vertical walls of the provision-chamber are also provided with a facing of felt 4L, and between which and the inner vertical walls of the inclosing case is a surrounding space 5 for air, which in connection with the felt walls very effectively protects the provision-chamber from the influence of external heat. The wooden walls of this chamber are lined with Zinc. As shown in Fig. 8, this provisionchamber has no fixed cover and contains the usual racks for supporting the provisions. When seated, the upper open top of the provision-chamber is level with the upper open top of the inclosing case. A top part 6 without hinges is seated upon and closes the inclosing case and forms a close joining at 7 with the vertical edges of the provision-chamber and with the vertical edges of the felt walls which surround this chamber, as in Fig. 2. A cover 8, hinged to this top part, affords access to the provision chamber. I/Vithin each end of this chamber the upper part carries a depending ice-tank 9, which hangs, preferably by its upper fiaring end 10, within an opening in the cover, so that each tank can be lifted out for cleaning and when seated is closed by a cover 11. Adrip-tube 12 from each tank passes down through an opening-13 in the bottom of the provision-chamber, its felt seating, and the bottom of the inclosing case and is provided with a removable cup air-seal 14. (Shown in Fig. 4:.) This separable non-hinged cover and its separable tanks is provided with a hinged cover 15, which supplements the covers of the provision-chamber v TOO moving and cleaning of the felt walls is a betterment over a permanent packing between fixed walls. rIhe employment'of sheet-felt as the walls of the air-space which surrounds the provision-chamber is also advantageous in keeping the felt dry and rendering it renewable, if found necessary.

One or both of the ice-tanks may be provided with a drinking-water compartment 17 (shown in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2) with draft-spigot 18. Obviously the ice tanks can be removed and cleaned without removing the felt-walled provision-chamber or the top seated thereon. To render it easy to register and pass the drip-tubes through the openings in the bottom of the provision-chamber, its felt bottom wall, and the inclosing case, I may provide the under side of the non-hinged top with brackets 19, to which is secured the vertical walls of the provision-chamber, as in Fig. 1.

It is important to note the felt walls are of soft fibrous material in sheet form and that the felt bottom wall forms the cushion-seat for the provision-chamber, so that the weight of the latter will have the effect of compressing the felt around the walls of the drip-tubes and keeping the joints tight, excluding air and ants; otherwise the removing and placing the ice-tanks and their drip-tubes would tend to make open joints at these bottom openings. The cup air-seals 14 are held by friction on the drip-tubes and are constantly filled with the drip water overiow, and to exclude insects a rubber band 2O may be put on the cuptube to seal the opening at the bottom of the refrigerator.

I prefer to arrange an ice-tank at each end of the provision-chamber and to extend it to near the bottom thereof, so that the cold will be equally distributed in the chamber.

The exclusion of drip water from the provision-chamber renders it possible to keep the provisions in dry cold air, which conduces to their preservation, and the means for effecting this is the drip-tubes extending from the bottom of the ice-tanks and opening beneath the bottom of the casing, so that the ice being inclosed in the tanks the air is not brought in contact with it and no drip from the tanks can pass into the chamber.

I claimH 1. In a refrigerator and in combination, an inclosing ease, a provision-chamber having a facing of sheet-felt fixed to its bottom, sides and walls, a removable cover, and a pair of ice-chests carried thereby and having a pair of drip-tubes passing through the bottom of said chamber, through the bottom felt and through the bottom of the case, whereby the weight of the chamber upon the felt causes the latter to form a tight joint around the drip-tubes, the chamber and its felt walls forming a removal entirety.

2. In a refrigerator, a top-cover part, icetanks carried thereby, and a cover supplementing and hinged to the top, the parts constituting an entirety removable with the icetanks.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALFRED wooDwAED.

Witnesses:

SYDNEY WHITE, JNO. SHERMAN. 

